I really enjoyed the premise of this book. Anna lost her sister and she decides to live the summer like her sister would've. While some might find this odd....living your life for someone else I found this understandable. By doing this Anna found out things about her sister but most importantly she found out a lot about herself and she also did things she normally wouldn't. This was an enjoyable read and one that I found refreshing.

I loved every second of this adventure. Anna relationships with her friends, parents, and Cameron seemed quite realistic and relatable. There was plenty of adventure, romance and a very intriguing plot-twist that kept me interested and on my toes.

A book with the title Someone Else's Summer is something you automatically know is probably going to be a little bit sad. Rachel Bateman hit that nail on the head, but did it in a way that shows the true struggle of losing someone close to you and how everyone reacts differently.

Someone Else's Summer follow the story of Anna and her journey as she deals with the sudden tragic loss of her sister, growing emotional feelings for another person, and the reality that nothing is what it seems.

Anna's emotions in this book are so raw and real. She has real reactions as her mind and surroundings go through the motions of change after her sister Storm dies. Her family is falling apart around her, which is something very common when a family member is lost, and she is trying to cope with that. Being in normal teenage hormones and emotions and you get a roller coaster of ups and downs. Some of my favorite characters in this book were the supporting roles. The aunt reminds me of my aunts. I love the familial bonding you get as Anna and her aunt talk through her issues. Bateman hit all the emotions in this book spot on.

My only issue was some parts seemed to drag out a little and there were moments when I felt the behaviors of Anna and her friends were a little more grown than what I would imagine for individuals her age. While this might be my own naivety at teenagers behaviors, but I felt it was a bit much and not really needed.

However, these minor issues were not enough to bring the rating down too much. Someone Else's Summer was a great coming of age story that included heartache, pain, growth, and coming of age. A great spring read for anyone of any age.

It took me awhile to actually get into this, because the first quarter of the book was pretty much showing how losing Storm affected Anna, and how Anna found herself drawing closer to Cam (and apart from other friends), since he was the one who really knew what it meant to lose Storm, as her best friend.

I felt a bit detached when it came to Storm, because we’re told how unique and special she was, but her character never really was a presence in this book, so she never felt real to me. Maybe if we had had flashbacks that could have fleshed Storm out some, it might have helped with making her absence feel more real, leading to genuinely missing her character.

Now, when it came to Anna and Cam, I’ll admit that I found it a bit ridiculous how quickly she fell into this easy companionship with him, mostly because she had gone through high school having only really spoken to him in pass, when he and Storm were hanging out together. I know they grew up being close, mostly due to Storm being their glue, but high school found them drifting apart, so it just came across as a little too easy…but then again, people think differently from me, so whatever works for them.
Either way, the fact that they found themselves gravitating towards each other helped to get the road trip off the ground, so that they could complete Storm’s list.

Of course, you could only assume that close quarters – as well as working together to complete the tasks on the list – would draw Anna and Cam closer, eventually leading to romantic feelings for each other. I liked Cam and his “geeky” personality, it’s endearing, as well as the way he really tried to help Anna with the list, considering he didn’t really owe her anything, he was just a good guy.

I feel like this book seriously had all the makings of a Nicholas Sparks novel: a tragic death, a bucket list that needs completion, and the romance that develops between the two people most affected by the aforementioned death…
But I can’t say that I hated the stereotypical Sparks-esque tropes that are the hallmarks of his stories, no, I liked them here. I liked how sappy this was at times, and I liked how everything wrapped up into a non-cliffhanger ending. Having read so many series in recent times, it was almost strange reading a book that actually ended.
Such a lovely feeling that is. *sighs*

So, in conclusion, I enjoyed Someone Else’s Summer, and it reminded me that I can like contemporaries in a dystopian-filled world!

This book gave me a summer-feeling, and I even forgot the hars subject of a sister dying at some points. It was a nice read. Not the greatest ever, but I enjoyed reading it.

Pros
Summerfeeling: The book gave me a real summerfeeling. The title of the book totally fits it and I love the scenery where the story takes part. At some points I could even smell the sea and it made me long for summer! I was reading this book inside while rain was poring down outside...
Light read: It's a real light read, this book. At some point I had to read 20% to end the book and that went rather fast. I finished the book within the hour. My kindle knows my reading speed and overall it took me around 4 hours to finish the book.
Nicely written: This book is nicely written, that's also why it feels like a light read. You rush through the pages and totally get into the story because of the writing style. I never had to re-read a sentence because I didn't get it or because I didn't understand that one word.

Cons
Moodswings: Anna is coping with serious mood swings. At some points in the book she is mad with Cameron and then a page later she is totally happy and laughing with him. I felt that if she was really mad, they would speak about the issue more or she would take her time off to think. Because she forgot about being angry so fast, it felt more like moodswings to me.
No shocking plot: I don't know if the plot was meant to be shocking or a surprise, but I knew before the revelation in the book. It didn't feel shocking to me at all, but it has a big impact on Anna. The way she deals with it was a more interesting part for me.
It's all too easy: This book needed to feel light and summery and that's why everything is so easy, I guess. Two teenagers leaving for a road trip, paying for all those expensive things. Everybody on the way being nice to them, not one bit of bad luck along the way. I think the book couldn't be this light read if it wasn't all that easy, but sometimes it gnawed at me. So at the one side it's a good thing, but sometimes I felt my mind wandering off and thinking how easy it all went.

It's a compliment to Rachel Bateman that a book with such a harsh subject can turn into a light summer read. I really think this book would be a great script for a movie with the beautiful scenery. It's not a bad book at all, felt like a quick, light read for me.

* I received an e-galley from Net Galley for review. The quotes that I utilized in this review may not be final.

Someone Else's Summer is about a girl named Anna , who is recovering from her sister, Storm, passing away on graduation night. She finds a list that Storm wrote before she passed away of things she wanted to do during the summer. Anna begins to complete the list with her late sister's best friend, Cameron.

I liked this book because it covered grief, and dealing with the death of a close one. It also showed the recovery process. I enjoyed seeing Cameron and Anna's interactions, and the adventures they went on to complete the list. Cameron helped to bring Anna out of her comfort zone, and she grew from their experiences.

There were certain plot points that I found to be not so great. Earlier in the book, Anna is at a party with her friend Piper, and she begins to feel uncomfortable. Then, when a man attempts to sexually assault her, she tells Piper that she is leaving, while her friend remains at the party. In a situation where the girls don't know anyone else at the party, and Anna was almost assaulted, it's dangerous to leave her drunk friend alone with older men who are strangers.

Also, Anna's Aunt Morgan let her get away with everything, which eventually meant that Anna was allowed to leave home for up to 3 weeks with a boy, staying in hotels/ B & B's alone. I could see this happening if Anna was in college, but for her Aunt to let her have free reign, regardless of the consequences was questionable. Furthermore, Aunt Morgan did not really support Anna's need to remain connected to her sister by completing the list. She basically told Anna that she needed to find her own place in the world, separate from Storm, rather than supporting her need to remain connected to her sister after she passed away.

In the first few chapters of the book, the author continued to use strange descriptions, such as "his bloodshot and wet, framed by splotchy skin and pure devastation, mine clear and steely", and "His body is all sharp corners and acute angles, pieced together with tape and a child's glue stick". These descriptions felt a little strange, and elaborate, and didn't really connect with the story.

Overall, the story is about overcoming loss, while remembering people you loved, and still loving them after death. It has romance, and grief, and it makes for a cute contemporary, despite the way it starts. I give this 3.5 stars.

Someone else's summer by Rachel Bateman was wonderful! It made me fall in love and cry and scream. Anna lost her sister in a car accident and she's learning to cope with life after her death. It includes a road trip and I love road trips books! Great contemporary book!

The cover is what drew me in. It's very nostalgic:) This was a sweet contemporary coming of age story. After Anna's sister dies, she finds a notebook of what Storm's perfect summer would have been. So Anna decides to live this out for her with the help of Storm's best friend, Cameron. I loved the premise but I never felt a connection with the story. I liked Anna well enough but even though Cameron was also in the main story, I felt I didn't get to know him. He seemed like a good guy, too. As far as Anna goes, she had a lot of grief to come to terms with. She could be angry, sad, selfish, but I still liked her. Although, if I was her I would dump Piper as a best friend!

A good summer contemporary novel that deals with death and the coming of age through it all.

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. (less)

It was a great read. I feel the character development was good and I would recommend to friends.

Someone Else's Summer tells the story of Anna, a high school student, as she tries to come to terms with her older sister's sudden death. The coming to terms takes the form of a Summer To-Do List that Storm planned to do before leaving for college so Anna along with Storm's best guy friend embark on a road trip to complete the list for her.

While the story is not breaking new ground, it's an easy beach read. The characters are likable and the road trips stops make the story enjoyable even if its too predictable and surface level at times.

SOMEONE ELSE'S SUMMER BY RACHEL BATEMAN

On the night of Storm's graduation from high school she insists on driving herself home and is killed in a one car accident. Storm's younger sister Anna and her parent's get that dreaded phone call and their life changes forever. After the funeral and some time passes Anna's parents tell Anna that it is time to sell Storm's car. This upsets Anna and she tells her parent's that she would like to keep it. Then her mother announces that she doesn't want Anna driving because she is afraid the same thing could happen to Anna.

Anna and her sister where very close growing up together with 'their next door neighbor Cameron. Before Anna entered high school and joined the cheerleading squad it was always the three of them hanging around together. As Anna enters high school she makes her own way and Storm and Cameron are still best friends. Anna passes Storm's room one day and decides to go into Storm's room where she finds Storm's journal with a Summer bucket list. Anna begins to feel better and this helps her heal. She decides to do all of the things Storm wrote down on her list. One night she takes the journal outside and climbs their old treehouse with the journal and Cameron happens to climb the treehouse and they decide to do everything on the list together.

Anna tells her father about the list and explains that she won't be able to do most of the things on the list if she can't drive. Her father allows Anna to do the list and agrees that she can drive but he tells Anna not to tell her mother. The Pastor is visiting Anna's parent's and after he leaves her parents tell Anna that they are going away for a few weeks for a retreat. The retreat is designed to have workshops and groups for grieving parents. Anna's Aunt Morgan moves into Anna's house while her parents are away. Aunt Morgan has always been the go to person whenever Anna has had a problem. Anna explains to her Aunt Morgan the situation and her Aunt allows Anna to go on a road trip with Cameron to complete the list.

This was probably the best Young Adult book I have ever read. It is not depressing it is inspirational. The writing was lovely and flowed seamlessly. It is all dialogue which I enjoyed rather than books I have read that alternate chapter's with the various character's points of view. It was refreshing that this author didn't use that all too common writing device. I really loved the character's in this book. I think the author is talented to write a book that handles the subject matter of Anna's sister's death, but writes it in a warm and gentle way. I loved watching Anna grow and evolve in this story. Anna does the bucket list to honor her sister, but grows as a person by living the best life she can for her and her sister.

Thank you to Net Galley, Rachel Bateman and Running Press Publishing for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

I loved this book! I always enjoy road trip/adventure books and tales that contain real. hard issues. Unfortunately, that usually goes hand in hand with a happy-for-now ending (as opposed to a happy ever after ending) and this was no exception. I would definitely recommend to others, and not necessarily as a YA book but just as a contemporary because I didn't feel like it had a HUGE YA vibe; I thin k it would also appeal to older readers, too

Moving forward

As hard as I tried, this book didn't do it for me. It was interesting but just not my kind of book. I'd say it's better suited as a young adult book, but on the older side of the spectrum- around fifteen to eighteen. Initially, I liked the story line, but I felt the ending was unsatisfying. I had too many questions, and so much was left unsaid. I was constantly confused with Cameron's behaviour, was he only getting close to Anna so that she could fill the void Storm left behind? Were the words 'I'm Sorry' interpreted wrong? Would Storm have been happy with how Anna turned out- with her being a cheerleader, and distant from the group they used to be?

Anna, Cameron and Storm: three against the world. At least it was that way until Anna decides to split from the team and makes her own friends. Anna and Storm are sisters, Anna is the younger one. As children, they couldn't be closer, Anna would always follow Storm around and they would play all these fun and magical-like games. Something I could relate to, I have four sisters of my own. The book starts at a funeral, Storm's funeral. She had a car accident, everyone is shaken by the tragedy- the girl who never made it past eighteen. Anna has become the only child, invisible to her parents. Cameron blames himself, he was supposed to drive Storm home.

For me, the main reason I was so distant from the book was because I was more interested in Storm's character. I found Anna to be quite boring. Storm was the social outcast, the kind of teenager who doesn't try to fit in. She's strong, opinionated and behaves as she wills. She was all of those things and now she's gone -leaving behind a notebook, filled with a list of goals for the summer, stuff like visit a lighthouse, go skinny dipping, fall in love, kiss a guy in the rain, crash a wedding. Just wild, cool and exciting things. All the stuff that Storm will not be able to do. This is why Anna decides that this is what she and Cameron should do together, just as they used to as children with Storm. As they undertake this project, Anna makes startling discoveries- one of which, is that she had drifted so far from Storm and knew very little about the adult Storm. Other revelations have the potential to tear her and her safe world apart.

Fans of the author John Green are likely to enjoy this book, as are fans of Just A Normal Tuesday by Kim Turrisi as well as, The United States Of Us by Kate Sundara. This book is a tale of loss, sorrow and letting go.

This was a decent read. It was really captivating from the start, I loved how Mrs. Bateman put the accent on the characters rather than the plot. Anna's character development was an awesome experience, but I have to say that the best part of it all is Mrs. Bateman's ability to put emotion into her work. The text in it's entirety emits emotion and lingers, simply asking for a reread.
It's a great coming of age, character development story that deserves a place on the shelves of YA fans.

I would like to thank NetGalley for the copy of Someone Else's Summer, by Rachel Bateman. This book is about a teenage girl, that lost her sister in a tragic car accident. A story of her grieving and finding herself through completing a list which her sister wrote in her journal before her passing. A fluid and quick read. A sweet heartfelt story of loss, love and friendship.

Can you fall in love with a book because of its dedication? Because that's when I first knew I was going to enjoy Someone Else's Summer. I cautioned myself to actually start reading the book before judging it, but, it turns out, I was right. I enjoyed this book of road trips and love finally realised, summer lists, larger-than-life big sisters, shared memories, shared grief, and unanswered questions. Someone Else's Summer was refreshing and fun.

Anna's sister was tragically killed in a car accident just after her high school graduation. Anna and her family are devastated. So when Anna finds one last summer list that her sister left behind, she knows she must complete it. She recruits her sister's best-friend, boy-next-door, Cameron, and together they set off for a summer of skinny dipping, tattoos, Polaroid photos, and kisses.

I have to say I loved the romance in this story. Anna and Cameron know each other. They have too many shared childhood memories not to. But they drifted apart over the past few years, just like Anna drifted from being her sister's little shadow. They reconnect through their shared grief and their time on the road trip. Their relationship starts with a familiarity and comfort that comes from being a perfect fit. So it only makes perfect sense when their relationship turns romantic. And boy, does their chemistry leap off the page. Their kisses were literally heart-pounding.

The start was a little slow, as Anna reminisces about previous summers and time spent with her sister. But it's these memories that lend credence to her grief. It makes the story believable. They are flawed characters, not likeable all the time. She and Cameron get angry at each other, Anna isn't the best friend to her best friend, but that only makes them more realistic.

And who doesn't love a good road trip novel? This one ticks all the right boxes - great scenery, a quest to complete, romance, quirky characters along the way, a few dodgy motels.... But it is the story of death and grief which underlies this story that makes it so much more than a light romance.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Thank You NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a heartbreaking story about a girl loosing her best friend. Anna then finds her sisters journal and carries out her wishlist. The author did an amazing job of bringing through everyones view points. The ending blew me away.

Thank you very much for allowing me to read this title; I am trying to read as widely as possible ahead of the Carnegie/Greenaway nominations and awards for 2018 and your help is much appreciated.
As a Carnegie/Greenaway judge, I'm not allowed to comment about my opinions on specific titles so I can't offer an individual review on any title as I stated on my profile.

First of all I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review .
This was a very beautiful book centred on Anna and her way in which she can grieve and let go of the tragic death of her sister storm by doing all the things her late sister had written down in her notebook of what she wanted to that summer and she does that with the help of Cameron her sister closest friend.
I don't want to give spoilers because it ruins it for the next reader but if you would like a brilliant,heartwarming and brave book then this is the one you need to pick.
The authors fluid writing brings all you want in a book , there is sadness ,happiness and a rekindling of a childhood friendship that you never thought possible but is back. This book just gave me all the feels ..weird I know but it's a masterpiece and for that Rachel Bateman I applaud you .

A solid YA that perhaps would have worked a little better as a New Adult--but could be a good bridge. Anna's pain over the loss of her sister feels real, but the silliness of her impulsive road trip at times stretches possibility (really? in the age of smartphones you wouldn't be able to book your own hotel or check out the place you're going?)